Good victory. Zardes seems to be a really interesting player and certainly decisive. It seems it wasn't an easy game, so these 3 points taste really well.

Match was probably harder than it should have been, but the three points were necessary if the Crew want to continue to fight to avoid the knockout round of the playoffs. Zardes in one of my favorite players, not because he's flashy but because he works hard and will always give a consistent effort. I won't go into detail, but I felt he was disrespected when the Galaxy traded him to Columbus, considering he was a homegrown product. Irony is that the Crew made it to the playoffs, the Galaxy didn't, and Zardes ended up scoring 19 goals this season for Columbus, breaking his best scoring output for the Galaxy by three goals. Good for him.

Chester going back to college is just smart coaching. Continuing education is very important and hopefully he learned some tricks for the rest of the year.

Nice win to welcome the team back from the All Star break.

Never too old to learn, although you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Chester doesn't mind trying.
Not the best win, but one the Crew needed to have. Went with a 4-3-3 to start as opposed to the normal 4-4-1-1 with mixed results. As certain players age, the 4-3-3 may be the future if Chester keeps his job.

Toronto looking like the strongest team in the section although Atalanta have quality nice to see the team still remains close to the top with the other teams catching up there games in hand

Toronto is in the best position in the East, but they were recently beaten by Atlanta who is surging at the right time. Crew plays Atlanta next, so that will be a tough match for sure. Although the West is weaker in head-to-head with the East, Seattle Sounders have been on a tear and have to be considered one of the title favorites.

A game for the neutral viewers and maybe a game that could have entertained a Mark Wahlberg as well.
An offensive firework in the first half, just to cool down everybody until the end to escalate again within the last 5 minutes. Man strange one..

A game for the neutral viewers and maybe a game that could have entertained a Mark Wahlberg as well.
An offensive firework in the first half, just to cool down everybody until the end to escalate again within the last 5 minutes. Man strange one..

Strange but exciting game to watch. A big game in the standings that would have gone a long ways if the Crew held on.

Marky Mark says he's a Spurs fan in real life and even toured White Hart Lane. Though I'm not sure he knows anything about the actual sport..

I'm not sure the extent of Mark Wahlberg's interest in the sport, but it is true that he made a comment in regards to purchasing (as part of an owners group) the Columbus Crew that Don Garber later dismissed as irrelevant.

It was maddening to give up that late goal from Martinez. It resulted directly from a turnover by Harrison Afful, so you could say it was an Afful turnover that led to the goal. Doh! All he had to do was kick the ball up field and time would have run out before Atlanta could reset. Poor game management, but overall a good result against a team that statistically were better the last time the teams met.

At least once during the past few seasons, MLS has scheduled a rivalry week to boost TV audience. Most of the teams, especially the bigger draws, are scheduled to play their rivals. Columbus Crew's direct rival is the Chicago fire, which is roughly a six-hour drive. MLS frames matches between Toronto FC and Columbus as a rivalry who play for the Trillium Cup, awarded to the team that wins the season series. The Crew also contests FC Dallas for the Lamar Hunt Pioneer Cup. Prior to his death, Lamar Hunt owned both of these teams.

Aaaaah come on...you learn it as a child: for a header you need to use your forehead Unfortunate own goal to draw the game..
Man it's all about the entertainment over there in the US. In some point it's kind of interesting to see but on the other end it's unnecessary. Just experience the 'american way' of presenting sport in the F1 and I don't like it at all. It's all about the presentation rather than the sportive and competetive things that should matter.

Aaaaah come on...you learn it as a child: for a header you need to use your forehead Unfortunate own goal to draw the game..
Man it's all about the entertainment over there in the US. In some point it's kind of interesting to see but on the other end it's unnecessary. Just experience the 'american way' of presenting sport in the F1 and I don't like it at all. It's all about the presentation rather than the sportive and competetive things that should matter.

Unfortunately entertainment is more important to most TV networks. They try bringing in casual fans to compete with all the other sports so using entertainment as a method to attract fans is the move.

Aaaaah come on...you learn it as a child: for a header you need to use your forehead Unfortunate own goal to draw the game..
Man it's all about the entertainment over there in the US. In some point it's kind of interesting to see but on the other end it's unnecessary. Just experience the 'american way' of presenting sport in the F1 and I don't like it at all. It's all about the presentation rather than the sportive and competetive things that should matter.

On the own goal, after watching the replay, it looked like the opponent pushed Abubakar in the back so that the ball skewed off his head. Either way, poor offensive showing for the Crew. Not sure what you mean by "American way", kind of a general statement. If your talking production quality of televised broadcasts, that varies by sport and TV network. As far as rivalry week in MLS, I actually think that is a good idea. Teams have to play each other anyways, why not schedule derbies for the same week and promote it; MLS is trying to grow its audience. I will say that the halftime show for the Superbowl is a bit much (I don't watch NFL and can't remember the last Superbowl I watched), but it's only once a year and people seem to like it. Professional sports, by nature, are entertainment.

Not a good result and not the image you expect to see from the Crew against a weaker side. Sauro's header rising among two towers was impressive. Unfortunately an own goal ruined the result.

Then Meram should have scored that last chance... he was alone one meter away from the goal line!

The playoffs aren't at risk, but after a great run of results, the Crew show weaknesses again.

Team has had the same problem all season, generating scoring opportunities against a disciplined defense. Chicago defended deep in the second half and we struggle to score when the game is not open. We rely a lot (maybe too much) on our wing play and crossing. The real shame of the draw was on the last sequence, we did what we needed to do by switching the point of attack and getting their defense off balance, but Meram blew his header. He was wide open and our second best scorer who has come through before. The positive was that Atlanta earned a draw as well, so nothing gained, nothing lost.

Is 'Liebchen' a real english word? If so hell yeah our fine german language did have an impact

God this is coming out of nowhere. Better than a TV series...

I believe Liebchen is strictly German, but I've heard it used it some movie; it just came to mind. If I'm not mistaken, English has is roots in Latin and German (and maybe some other dialects). It's not uncommon for English to adopt words from other languages--déjà vu as an example.